Building record 0524500000 - TEMPLE OF VENUS

DISAPPEARED DURING LATE C18/C19. REBUILT IN 1982 ON ORIGINAL MOUND. BASE OF MOUND ON N SIDE LOW SCREEN OF BRICK, FACED WITH FLINT (FLINTWORK RECENTLY RENEWED) WITH NICHES & CURVED CENTRAL OPENING SAID TO REPRESENT VENUS'S VAGINA. LEADS TO SMALL CHAMBER POSSIBLY ENTRANCE TO ICE HOUSE (B1).
Short article on the symolism of the original siting of the temples of Venus and of Daphne at West Wycombe Park (B2).
The Venus Temple is situated on a large conical earthen mound between theBroadwalk and the northern serpentine canal. The present temple, a circular arrangementof ionic columns beneath a dome, is a replica based on illustrations by Hannan (1753) and was designed by Quinlan Terry in 1982. The original temple (demolished c.1819) is marked in this location by Jolivet and may have been built to his designs. At the foot of the mount
the south side is the Venus Parlour. The 1752 and 1767 maps show the temple at the southern edge of a circular enclosure or planting regime, probably containing a number of statues, vases and figurines mentioned in an inventory of 1781. This enclosure was flanked by symmetrical triangular parterres to the east and west, and mirrored by a semi-circular or horseshoe-shaped clearing to the north of the mound (B3-5).